2012 News

Ryan Dalziel Storms To The Top Of The Charts Despite A Hit

THE PLOT: High-flying Ryan Dalziel added to his growing CV of top drives with a hard-fought second place in the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series’ Global Barter 250 at New Jersey.

Ryan, from Windermere in Florida, and Venezuelan team-mate Enzo Potolicchio perfected the Starworks Motorsport strategy to extract as many points from the event as possible.

And, while Ryan was left ruing contact with Max Angelelli’s #10 SunTrust
Corvette, he was delighted to grab enough points to retake the lead in
the series and build on the Ford Lauderdale-based team’s stunning second
place at Daytona 24 in January.

Ryan and Enzo had qualified the #8 Ford Riley in seventh place and the
Venezuelan produced a battling stint to keep them in the leading pack.

But Ryan — originally from Lanarkshire in Scotland — was immediately on the pace after the changeover.

He closed the gap on the leaders and a full course caution with just 50
minutes to go put him in pole position for a shock win against the might
of the Corvettes.

However, Ryan was less than impressed with a late move by Angelelli that
shunted him to one side and went unpunished by the Grand-Am Rolex
Series officials.

Typically, Ryan recovered and maintained a solid second place until the
checkered flag — a result that moved them to the top of the rankings.

THE QUOTES: “We got some great points. We did exactly what we needed to
do. We knew the Rileys were going to struggle against the Corvettes
because New Jersey is such a high downforce track.

“We had one objective and that was to score points and regain our points
lead. Starworks did an excellent job with strategy but the fast
pitstops got us out in the lead with 50 minutes to go.

“We sacrificed new tires in the last yellow to gain track position
because that was our best opportunity to score points. It paid off and
looked like getting us the ultimate reward.

“But, with 20 minutes to go Max Angelelli shunted me out of the way. I
knew it was coming because I had already seen him knock Ozz Negri
off-track twice in my rear view mirrors.

“It’s crazy to think that Enzo got a stop-and-go penalty in Homestead
for making contact with the #90 leading DP that was aquaplaning off
track yet nothing is done about these three incidents.

“That is very disappointing, but we can still be very proud of what we
achieved. We knew this would be our toughest challenge yet we came away
with the points lead.

“Hopefully, Grand-Am will change the rules to give the Riley teams some
much-needed downforce. Then we can race these guys on outright speed and
not with better strategy and making the most of their mistakes.

“Then we could really put on a show for the fans and the television audience.”
THE FACTS:
The Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series continues at the Chevrolet Grand-Am 200 in Detroit on June 1-2.

Ryan is also leading Starworks Motorsport’s 2012 FIA World Endurance
Championship campaign. They started with an LMP2 class win and third
place overall at Sebring in Florida.

He also grabbed an LMPC class win and third place overall in the CORE autosport car at Long Beach in California.

Ryan had four Rolex Grand-Am podiums in 2011 – a win at mid-Ohio and
third at Barber, Lime Rock and Watkins Glen. He also had three
fourth-place finishes.

Ryan also gave Starworks Motorsport its first DP victory, at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, in 2008.